Rishabh Pant

With MS Dhoni rested, Rishabh Pant - the strongest contender to fill up the hole in the middle-order - is the only specialist wicketkeeper in the squad. There is no secret of his willingness to repeatedly attempt flashy strokes, yet he possesses the explosiveness factor. Not included for the World Cup initially but having replaced Shikhar Dhawan, Pant batted at four and had mediocre returns of 32, 48, 4 and 32. He has rapidly substituted Wriddhiman Saha behind the stumps in Test cricket - in 9 matches, Pant already has centuries in England and Australia - and at 21, is far younger than all of Dhoni, Saha and Dinesh Karthik. Pant now has a golden chance of cementing his spot in ODIs too as both Dhoni and Karthik near the end of their international careers.

KL Rahul

KL Rahul has floated in India's middle-order in the last two years, mostly finding a place as a replacement. Perhaps that inconsistent run in the side is one reason for lesser than expected returns from his bat, but Rahul seized his opportunities well when included in all of India's ten matches in the World Cup. He grabbed his chances with a career-best 111 as well as two half-centuries at an average of 45.13, but concerns about soft dismissals and throwing away settled starts continue to linger. Interestingly, Rahul has scored only 52 runs at number four, averaging 17.33 - he made almost all of his World Cup runs as an opener - but it remains to be seen whether India will consider him a long-term prospect at that position or continue to use him as a reserve opener.

Manish Pandey

Having started his ODI career with a bang in Zimbabwe and Australia in 2015-16, Manish Pandey gradually fell out of favour due to lack of form as well as stiff competition. Since smashing 104* at Sydney in a successful chase of 331 - he batted at a strike rate of 128.40 - Pandey has touched fifty only once in fifteen innings, the last of which came at the Asia Cup last September. Much like Rahul, he has been in and out of the side since his debut in 2015; but a decent showing against West Indies A in the recently-concluded series - 162 runs at 40.50, including a century - means Pandey has knocked on the selectors' door yet again. Lest he is unable to make up for lost time, Pandey's career may be at a crossroads just a month away from turning 30.

Shreyas Iyer

Shreyas Iyer has only played 7 ODIs - the last of those had come in February 2018 before the washout against West Indies two days back - but is an exciting prospect in the middle-order. He has recent form on his side, having hit 187 runs - including two half-centuries - in the just-finished 'A' series. Iyer has the ideal combination of technique, power and temperament to match India's requirements, but needs a long rope to establish himself in the eleven. That may just commence with the ODIs against West Indies before India head for a long home season where ODIs will be played aplenty. Iyer's maturity led to captaincy of his IPL side, but he needs to transfer the same to the international level to occupy the most dicey place in Indi's batting line-up.